THE DESCENDANT OF SLYTHERIN

CHAPTER 11 : MOANING MYRTLE

LAIA POV

After that incident, it's still the talk of Hogwarts. Filch kept it fresh in everyone's minds by pacing the spot where she had been attacked, as he thought the attacker might come back. He scrubbed the message on the wall with Mrs. Skower's All Purpose Magical Mess Remover, but to no effect; the words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone.

Ginny was very disturbed by Mrs. Norris's fate. Ron reckons she was a great cat lover, but I don't think so.

I asked her what happened, but that's when my namesake decided to become a good brother and wanted to console her. Then I didn't get a chance to talk with her; it seems like she's avoiding me. Maybe Hogwarts gives her a tough time.

Hermione is also disturbed. She said she wants to find out about the Chamber of Secrets, so she's been working on it. Everyone at Hogwarts seems to avoid Harry, which isn't helping at all.

Now, it's time for History of Magic. We can say it's one of my sleepy hours. Maybe that's why our Professor is not living but a ghost; the most exciting thing that ever happened in his classes was his entering the room through the blackboard. Today was as boring as ever. Professor Binns opened his notes and began to read in a flat drone, like an old vacuum cleaner, until nearly everyone in the class was in a deep stupor, occasionally coming to long enough to copy down a name or date, then falling asleep again. He had been speaking for half an hour when something happened that had never happened before: Hermione put up her hand.

Professor Binns, glancing up in the middle of a deadly dull lecture on the International Warlock Convention of 1289, looked amazed.

"Miss — er —?"

"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets," said Hermione in a clear voice.

Dean Thomas, who had been sitting with his mouth hanging open, gazing out of the window, jerked out of his trance; Lavender Brown's head came up off her arms, and Neville Longbottom's elbow slipped off his desk. What is she thinking she is?

Professor Binns blinked.

"My subject is History of Magic," he said in his dry, wheezy voice. "I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends." He cleared his throat with a small noise like chalk snapping and continued, "In September of that year, a subcommittee of Sardinian sorcerers —" He stuttered to a halt.

Hermione's hand was waving in the air again. "Miss Granger?"

"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?" Professor Binns was looking at her in such amazement; I think no student had ever interrupted him before, alive or dead.

"Well," said Professor Binns slowly, "yes, one could argue that, I suppose." He peered at Hermione as though he had never seen a student properly before. "However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale —"

But the whole class was now hanging on Professor Binns's every word. He looked dimly at us all, every face turned to his. He was completely thrown by such an unusual show of interest.

"Oh, very well," he said slowly. "Let me see... the Chamber of Secrets... You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago — the precise date is uncertain — by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."

He paused, gazed blearily around the room, and continued. "For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school."